Web Log Archives, January 7th, through January 20th, 2007
Saturday, January 20th, 2007
“I
don’t think he understands the world.
I don’t think he’s particularly curious about the world.
I don’t think he reads like he says he does.
Every time he’s read something he tells you about it.”
Senator John D. Rockefeller IV, Democrat from West Virginia, the new
chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee
Friday, January 19th, 2007
All the King's horses and all the King's men had egg sandwiches:
Mr. Lehrer: Is there a little bit of a broken egg problem here, Mr. President, that there is instability and there is violence in Iraq - sectarian violence, Iraqis killing other Iraqis, and now the United States helped create the broken egg and now says, okay, Iraqis, it's your problem. You put the egg back together, and if you don't do it quickly and you don't do it well, then we'll get the hell out.Thursday, January 18th, 2007
"You can't make up anything anymore. The world
itself is a satire. All you're doing is recording it!"
"Every gun that is made, every
warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from
those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed."
Dwight
Eisenhower, 1953
Wednesday, January 17th, 2007
"The United States occupies Iraq with 140,000
troops, talks of “replacing” Prime Minister Maliki if he does not meet
American “benchmarks,” and determines who may or may not enter the country.
Yet President Bush accuses Iran of “meddling” in Iraq.
In New York, we call this chutzpah."
Bruce
Cronin
"At my age, the jobs available to me are
minimum-wage jobs. There is age discrimination out there! "
Timothy
J. Bowers, age 63, standing before Judge Angela White
Tuesday, January 16th, 2007 Happy Birthday, Joe!
' “Democrat Party” is a slur, or intended to be—a handy way to express contempt. Aesthetic judgments are subjective, of course, but “Democrat Party” is jarring verging on ugly. It fairly screams “rat.” ' Hendrik Hertzberg
Monday, January 15th, 2007
"I
might remind everyone [that]
it’s many of the same people—commentators, members of Congress, others—who
were so anxious to go into Iraq four years ago, [who]
were so sure of the results as to how it was going to come out, [who]
are so now sure again about the President’s Wednesday night proposal."
Senator Chuck Hagel,
Republican of Nebraska
Sunday, January 14th, 2007
Last
Thursday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice appeared before the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee to defend her boss's 'new' strategy for 'victory' in Iraq,
which the President had 'articulated' on Wednesday night, before a National
television audience. When Senator Barbara Boxer took her turn questioning
the Secretary of State here, in part, is what she said,
"On October 19th, 2005, you came before this
committee to discuss...how we assure victory in Iraq, and you said the following,
'I have no doubt that as the Iraqi security forces get better -- and they are
getting better and are holding territory, and they are doing the
things with minimal help -- we are going to be able to bring down the level of
our forces. I have no doubt. I have no doubt that that's going to happen in a
reasonable time frame.' You had no doubt, not a doubt. And last night,
the President's announcement of an escalation is a total rebuke of your
confident pronouncement.
Now, the issue is who pays the price, who pays the price? I'm not going
to pay a personal price. My kids are too old, and my grandchild is too
young. You're not going to pay a particular price, as I understand
it, within immediate family. So who pays the price?" 
Senator Boxer was alluding to the fact that Secretary Rice has never married and does not have children. [Incidentally, the Senator did not also mention that the Secretary has never had an intimate adult relationship...but let's not 'go there'!] Well, not surprisingly, the President's (dwindling band of) supporters, eager to move the discussion off-topic, seized on the Senator's comments. Secretary Rice, herself, the next day (on Fox News, where else?) said, "In retrospect, gee, I thought single women had come further than that, that the only question is are you making good decisions because you have kids." In summary, the President's people are accusing Senator Boxer of political incorrectness. They have gone so far as to accuse the Senator of 'lynching' the Secretary...'hitting below the ovaries', if you will.
But let's think about this: is it in any way unfair to point out that, in this 'Volunteer Army', virtually the only people who volunteer are those within the lower economic strata...that is, people from poor families? As a corollary, is it in any way unfair to point out that almost all the loudest proponents of this ongoing disaster are very wealthy people? Is it in any way unfair to point out that tens of thousands of National Guard people are being conscripted (that's right: drafted) into combat service of indefinite duration thousands of miles from the States within which they had signed up to serve? And is it in any way unfair to point out that the biggest warmonger within this Administration (Dick Cheney) not only (like Bush) has no children of soldier age to offer up to the slaughter, but opted himself out of military service altogether (during the Vietnam era)...and is an old, sick man, who must be followed everywhere by two physicians in an ambulance in the anticipation that he might, at any moment, have yet another 'cardiac event' (he has already had four heart attacks)? Is it in any way unfair to point out that an erection might kill him? I mean...what has he got to live for...and for how long? What does he care if he screws everything up? What does he care what the world will look like in ten or twenty years? He's not likely to be around to see what a mess he's helped to make! Is it in any way unfair to point out that not Bush, not Cheney nor Rice has ever seen combat? Is it in any way unfair to consider that not one of the people hawking this war and packing transport planes with healthy, compliant 20 year-olds stands to pay any price at all (beyond the loss of their own bloody faces)?
Go for it, Barbara!
Saturday, January 13th, 2007
"Now, it's one thing to sell oats
before the horse has eaten them, and another thing to sell them after."
Steve
Chapman
Friday, January 12th, 2007
At last! Some Good News! Some kind person(s) slipped this under my door yesterday!
Thursday, January 11th, 2007
Dumb Jokes, Courtesy (or fault) of Skip:
Q: How Do You Make Holy
Water?
A: You Boil The Hell Out Of It!
Q: What Do Fish Say When They Hit a Concrete
Wall?
A: Dam!
Q: What Do You Call Cheese That Isn't Yours?
A: Nacho Cheese!
Q: What Lies At The Bottom Of The Ocean And
Twitches?
A: A Nervous Wreck!
Q: Where Do You Find a Dog With No Legs?
A: Right Where You Left Him!
Q: What Kind Of Coffee Was Served On The
Titanic?
A: Sanka!
Q: Why Is 'Almonds'
Pronounced 'Ah-monds'?
A: Because To Get 'Em Outta The Tree They
Have To Knock The 'l' Out of 'Em!
Q: What Has Four Wheels and
Flies?
A: A Garbage Truck!
Q: What's The Difference Between a Harley
And a Hoover?
A: The Location Of The Dirt Bag!
Wednesday, January 10th, 2007
"Misattribution
works best if the person quoted is not around to correct the record. Famous dead
people make excellent commentators on current events. During George W. Bush’s
first term in office, a warning supposedly made by Julius Caesar raced around
the Internet. This began, “Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in
order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor....”
Barbra Streisand quoted Caesar’s warning in a speech she gave to a
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee gala.
In a Los Angeles Times
editorial cartoon, Paul Conrad attributed the advisory to William
Shakespeare
(presumably because
Shakespeare wrote the play Julius Caesar).
There is no evidence that Caesar ever said
such a thing. Certainly Shakespeare never
wrote it."
Ralph
Keyes
Tuesday, January 9th, 2007
"Naturally
the common people don't want war: Neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for
that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the
leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple
matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist
dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no
voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That
is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and
denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to
danger. It works the same in any country." "Guns will make us powerful;
butter will only make us fat."
Herman
Goering, 1893-1946
Monday, January 8th, 2007
"
"Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens."
"It might be advisable to let the Americans [United
Artists] do what seems good to them...as long as
it is possible to veto anything from or influenced by the Disney studios (for
all whose works I have a heartfelt loathing)."
J. R. Tolkien (1892-1973),
writing in 1972 and describing his own (mixed) reactions to having become a 'cult figure'.
Sunday, January 7th, 2007
